Waking Nightmares
by pythonOwl31
Summary: Spoilers for S13 E2. Emily is sleep talking on the plane during a nightmare of the delusions Scratch put her under. Garcia tearfully comes up to Reid, saying, "Reid, Emily, I think she's having a nightmare, but she's awake, and she keeps calling out to you. You have to help her!"


Spoilers for S13 E2. Emily is sleep talking on the plane during a nightmare of the delusions Scratch put her under. Garcia tearfully comes up to Reid, saying, "Reid, Emily, I think she's having a nightmare, but she's awake, and she keeps calling out to you. You have to help her!"

It was one of the few times Garcia came along with the rest of the team. She had pleaded her case to Rossi, who had nodded understandingly and had said to the Unit Chief, "Let her come".

Prentiss had paused to attempt a smile at Penelope, and had simply repeated her mantra of, "Wheel's up". Garcia's entire upper body had seemed to lift up in excitement and she scurried off to her lair to get ready.

Now she almost wished she hadn't come, because realizing you're helpless in the goal to come to a friend's aid while she's on a plane, while tortuous, is somehow not as awful as when she's laid out on the plane's couch mere feet away from you. She watched as her fearsome, raven-haired beauty was fidgeting and groaning, softly.

Reid and Rossi were in the back of the plane, where they were engaged in an intense discussion...or argument? Penelope couldn't tell, but she knew it was heated. Simmons was Facetiming with his family the whole time. He had said he missed his wife, and wanted to tell his kids good night. Luke and Tara had dozed off on the night flight. Luke was in fact, snoring, alternating between train and jet in terms of volume. "Ugh, shut up, newbie," Penelope muttered, glaring at his sleeping figure. Tara curled further into the window, and Emily was shaking slightly now.

"What'd I miss?" JJ, who had just hung up with her family, asked with her trademark grin.

"Alvez. He's annoying when he sleeps! What? How? Ugh, newbie. He's buying something when we land!"

"Haha, what, you want some earplugs?" JJ grinned as she crossed the aisle to flop next to her fellow blonde. "Aww, poor thing, she's knocked out. Is she-" Just then, Emily frowned and look as though she were trying to get up but was restrained.

"JJ I don't know what to do," Penelope said, remembering the current dilemma. "What do you do when your boys have a nightmare?"

"Wellll," JJ said pausing to think, "Michael likes to be rocked and sung to, and Henry likes to talk out his bad dreams and we'll write it up and then throw it away so the bad dream can't hurt him anymore."

"Awwwwwwww, my babies," Penelope gushed.

JJ smiled as she thought about her boys. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Speeence. Mmh," Emily groaned. JJ and Penelope exchanged glances.

"Is she...are they-" JJ paused to lower her voice. " _Dating_?" Her eyes peered widely at Emily, then Garcia, then to Spencer in the back, and back to Garcia.

"Eeeee! My little chipmunks!" Garcia squeaked, clapping as she fluttered in her seat. "But, but," she pouted. "They didn't _tell_ me!" Her voice turned into a whine which made JJ giggle.

"Help. Spence, help", Emily whispered.

"Oh. Oh, Em," Penelope whispered. "I was so hopeful it was a good dream," Garcia visibly deflated.

"I'll get her a cold towel. Maybe...you should grab Spence." JJ said it in part to give the woman something to do. When she has nothing to do to help her chickies, she flounders. Loudly. And JJ, managing the situation as she had managed some of her BAU duties, made it a goal to help Emily without disturbing anyone unnecessarily, Emily least of all. If the situation was handled poorly, Emily would make sure they knew there was hell to pay.

Rossi had noticed a commotion up front, and had predicted that Garcia might make her way to the plane's rear. He had, in fact, mentally checked out of his conversation - er, debate, if one could call it that - with Spencer a full two seconds before Reid, engrossed as he was in his mental encyclopedia of facts.

Garcia tearfully came up to Reid, saying, "Reid, Emily, I think she's having a nightmare, but she's awake, and she keeps calling out to you. You have to help her!"

Rossi watched as Reid's face evolved from passionate to confused to concerned and guilty. As if any of this were _his_ fault.

"Rossi, I-" he started.

"Go," came the interruption. "She-"

"Needs me," Reid finished.

At the front of the plane, Reid found Emily in the midst of what appeared to be a rather intense nightmare which was waking her up. She was crying soundlessly and breathing, "Spence, help" as she looked right at him without seeing him really, as though her brain had failed to process the visual information. With cautious movements and a concerned frown, Spencer gently took her hands as JJ and Garcia watched on. Ignoring them, Spencer knelt down.

"Emily. Em."

She whimpered.

He grimaced. "Em, it's Spence, I'm here to help you."

"Spence?" She was only half awake, and her voice was meek. Her eyes flittered to Spencer, JJ, Garcia, JJ, Garcia, towards the back of the plane- "Oh, God," she gasped.

"Hey. Hey, Em. Look at me. It's Spence. Look at me. Squeeze my hand," he said quickly to distract and calm. She squeezed his hands tightly, looking at him through a sudden veil of tears.

"I can't move my legs," she whispered.

"Scratch, he-Oh God, he killed-" she stopped as a fresh set of tears fell.

"Emily, I know it hurts right now, I know. Keep squeezing. I'm here."

"Spence, make it stop. Please, I'll do anything. Make it stop. Please, I need something." Spence couldn't hold back tears. They cried together for a few moments. Tara woke and stared confusedly before Garcia mouthed, "nightmare." Tara looked concerned and squinted her eyes, looking like she was trying to make out what Emily was saying.

"Em, why don't you drink a little water?" Reid said, opening a fresh bottle Garcia had just produced. Em let Spence help her to a somewhat sitting position and take a few small sips.

"Spence? What'd you do? The spikes are going through my legs!" Spence frowned and, deciphering JJ's sign language, felt her forehead. She was feverish; the fever was clearly taking over where the nightmare left off.

"Spence, I don't feel good. But I can't move my legs," she whimpered, eyes unfocused.

"I'm gonna pick you up," he warned before he let go of her hands and put one hand under her knees and the other behind her upper back. The plan had been to take her to the tiny plane bathroom and help her there, but then JJ thrust a bag towards Em's face and Reid just sat her somewhat upright and JJ knelt in front of them talking softly and holding the bag for Emily, who seemed to have no intention to help, and Garcia produced a hair band thing which she used to tie back the black locks before rubbing her back soothingly. When she was finished they helped her rinse her mouth out a little and Tara gave her a peppermint and looked prepared to assess her boss as her patient.

Once the plane landed, everyone was anxiously watching Emily, who had spent the rest of the flight shaking and sweating and sobbing in Reid's arms.

"Emily?" Reid gently woke her up; she was in and out of a fitful sleep. She blinked groggily at him, squinting as she waited for him to continue. "How about I take you home? We can stop by a pharmacy on the way."

Emily moaned at the mention of a pharmacy.

"Emily, he's letting you off easy. I would take you to the ER, that fever-" JJ interjected.

Emily nodded her agreement, too out of it at the moment to produce words.

After a trip to the pharmacy with Garcia, Penelope drove Emily and Spencer to Emily's apartment. Spencer put their dirty laundry from their to go bags in the wash. After checking the empty fridge, he went to the store quickly while Penelope helped Emily shower. Emily sat down in the tub while Pen rinsed the shampoo out, and kept sitting there even after Pen was done washing Emily's hair, so Penelope filled the tub with warm water and added some Epsom salt to it. Emily decided to speak to Penelope in Arabic, and grew amusingly upset when she could not be understood at all.

"Em, hon, I'm sorry, but I don't speak...Arabic? Could I interest you in a foot massage?" She squeaked in hopes to distract her.

"J'ai froid," she replied, switching to French.

"I know, hon, hopefully you're sweating the fever out. How about we get you out of the water, it's getting cold anyway. You're turning into a prune!" Pen put down Emily's foot and pulled out the most fluffy towel she could find in the closet.  
" _You're_ a prune," Emily said, switching to snark.

"Mm-hmm," Penelope did her best not to laugh.

Once Emily was dressed in shorts and an old FBI training T-shirt, they opened the door to the delicious aroma of stew.

"Hey! Soup's on. Did the bath help?" Reid greeted them from the stove. Penelope shuffled Emily to a seat at the table.

"Well, she called me a prune, so what do you think," Emily pouted.

"Oh," Reid replied, shooting Penelope a quizzical glance. Reid turned around with two piping hot bowls of soup, and placed the one with significantly less soup in it in front of Emily.

"It's just vegetables, Em. I got you some saltine crackers," Reid said, noting her hesitation.

"I don't know if I can keep it down," she admitted after a beat.

"That's okay, hon, just try a few sips and a few crackers. "

"Here, your chamomile tea is ready, Reid said as he squeezed a slice of fresh lemon in the mug. He stirred in a bit of honey and placed the steaming mug in front of Emily.

"Spence," Emily said softly. She rested her shoulder on Pen and squeezed Spencer's hand.

"Em," Reid smiled softly. "Just let us take care of you.

Emily looked at her lap and nodded. "Can I- can I just have the broth? I don't want more vegetables.

"Of course!" Reid took her bowl from her as Emily breathed into her tea.

"My mom didn't take care of me when I was sick. This is new," Emily admitted.

It was nice to be taken care of.

 ***"J'ai froid" = "I'm cold" in French**


End file.
